Polka Dot Clay Studio: Distillation

Heading into the city for the Monet: Early Years Exhibit...

On the way into the Legion of Honor...

Yesterday, I had a treat with Lisa and Michelle, two fellow teachers from my school. We visited the Legion of Honor to see an exhibit of Claude Monet's early paintings. Several years ago, I started becoming deeply interested in Monet's work. When I was younger, I always thought that his work was just socialite fodder. Maybe I had only seen his work in books. The Orsay Museum began to change my mind. When you view Monet's work in person, it is radiant. He completely understands the quality of light, and how to capture reflections.

This exhibit focused on early work, when he was just beginning to make the move from tight realism to abstraction. Almost every painting had small sections or parts that were loose and brushy. There were places where he was starting to try to let go of subject. But, unlike his later work, there were also still areas that were calculated and tightly rendered. He seems to have been drawn by water and by snow. As a plein air painter, living in Northern France, he was surrounded by water and weather. Each painting that had snow or water, seemed to contain the ingredients of abstraction.

The dates on the paintings were helpful. Within about a ten year period, he started really experimenting with paint, and was firmly heading down the path towards his later work. The timeline on the wall, and the quantity of work, reinforced my notion of creativity. You have to put in the time. You have to work on your art every day (or at least try to). As you work continuously, you produce a lot of clunkers, but you also have small, almost negligable breakthroughs, making signpost pieces along the way. Without constantly working, or creating a body of work, it's difficult to advance towards what you're ultimately trying to express.

I was also struck yesterday, by the amount of rejection that Claude Monet faced with his work. People continuously denying him the right to exhibit. He continued to persevere, despite living in poverty for the early years of his life. When I walked into a purple room, and saw his humble fish still life, I started to get weepy. This painting always cuts to the heart of what it is to be a maker for me. Everything around us is beautiful and radiant, even in death. Everything is a wonder. Monet understood this, and could not resist taking time to notice the unnoticeable.

I feel inspired to keep on making, and to keep on observing and noticing.